


Changing Peri-digms

by mage_cat



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode Related, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 18:32:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7518901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mage_cat/pseuds/mage_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning I just thought of Peridot as The Enemy. In the end, well, a lot changed.<br/>A retelling of Amethyst and Peridot's relationship from shortly before Peridot's capture through "Message Received" from inside Amethyst's head.<br/>Paradigm- (noun) a framework containing the basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodology</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changing Peri-digms

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen people lament that, while there are plenty of fics about how and why Peridot falls for Amethyst, there isn't much about the other why around. I figured I would try to do my bit to fix that. First-person, present tense isn't my usual style, but it's the only thing that felt like it worked for Amethyst.

Peridot being on Earth has Pearl and Garnet freaked. Now that Steven's new dream-walking ability has told us that Malachite isn't going to be coming to attack us anytime too soon, that's what they've focused on. Peridot is going to restart Homeworld's old plans and destroy life on Earth, and the two of them don't want to fight Homeworld again. I think they're still hurting from the last time. It's there in all the things that they won't talk about. We have to stop Peridot here and now before she can get more reinforcements. Finish it while it's still just another monster fight.

Fighting Peridot isn't really like fighting a gem monster though. Monsters don't learn from every fight. Monsters don't make you have to come up with new attacks over and over again. Fighting Peridot is actually kind of fun. Not that I would ever tell Pearl and Garnet that. It's the kind of thing that makes them go all “concerned.” It was hard enough to get them to trust me having fun in fake fights with humans. If they thought I was treating battle with my first Homeworld opponent as a goof-off, it would be at least a century before I heard the end of it.

That flying trick Peridot pulls with her fingers is pretty cool. I wonder if I could turn into a helicopter big enough for the team to follow her. Shape shifting into something that flies is always a little tricky. It's not just the shape. You have to get the densities right or you never get airborne. Propellers are weird too, but I figured that out already so I could do Dogcaptor for Steven. Full-size helicopter might be cool to figure out.

* * *

When Peridot kidnaps Steven, we finally get the mix of tactics right. I don't let her fly away this time. Garnet gets her poofed, bubbled, and safe in the temple with the corrupted Gems. She left behind a reminder that she wasn't just another monster though. Turns out that most of what we thought were her arms and legs were tech. Guess that explains how she was able to remove her foot before. I don't want the reminder though. I want things to go back to normal, or at least as close to normal as things have been since we lost Rose. I pick up all those green bits and throw them off the side of the Galaxy Warp. It's over.

* * *

At least is was over for a few hours. Then Steven decides that he has to ask Peridot a few questions. Apparently, it only took about two minutes after he let her out of her bubble for her to get out of the Burning Room and into the beach house. Good thing the three of us are hanging out in there anyway. Turns out without those robot parts, Peridot's about my height. She's kind of cute like that. Oh, don't get me wrong. Homegirl needs to go down. Doesn't mean I'm not holding onto the memory of that look she had on her face when she saw me waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

* * *

Steven finally gets Peridot to spill her big time intel. Those gnarly gem mutants we've been fighting the past few months were prototypes. A huge mass of shattered Gems that Homeworld calls the Cluster is going to finish forming soon in the center of Earth, and when it does, it's going to break the planet apart. We're lucky Peridot's stranded and not interested in dying for the sake of Yellow Diamond's weapon.

* * *

If we're going to be working with Peridot, she's going to have to learn the ground rules of how things work around here, and one of those is that Pearl has seniority. Steven's robot competition idea to drive the point home is pretty inspired. I think Peridot's robot is cooler than Pearl's, but it is still pretty awesome to see P punch Peridot in the face like that. If the way Peridot was talking to Pearl is normal on Homeworld, it sure explains a lot about Pearl.

Steven tells me that Peridot doesn't like to be called cute. I get that. Cute has it's perks, but respect isn't usually one of them. I know I've always been able to get away with more stuff when I feel like playing up being small and soft-looking, but I also get listened to even less than usual. It's been a while since I've been in any kind of mood for that, and Peridot very obviously wants to be listened to. She's still kinda cute though.

* * *

I would never say it out loud, because it makes me sound like a nerd, but I love learning new ways to say stuff. One of the reasons I liked hanging out with Vidalia back in the day was because she taught me a bunch of great new words, including most to the list of things I'm not allowed to say in front of Steven. Peridot's word choices are just so awesomely weird. She uses big, complicated words like Pearl does, but Pearl always comes across like she's showing off when she does it. When Peridot says that she needs a leverage optimizer but it's outside her radius, that's just really the only way she can think to say that she can't reach the screwdriver. I think Garnet was a little harsh tying her to the fence like that, but I guess Garnet knows more about this sort of thing than I do.

Of course, all those multi-syllables just make it that much funnier when she yells the word “butt.” She's getting me in a word-play mood, and I'm realizing that her name really is great for nicknames. She can't be “P” because that's Pearl, but “P-dot” works. “Peri” is an easy one. Great for building more names off of too. Lots of words start with that sound.

I'm having fun with Peridot, so it's a no-brainer to volunteer to go with her to the Kindergarten for a drill-head. I volunteer Steven too, because the kid needs a good laugh as much as anyone. It is such a trip to hear Peridot ragging on Garnet and Pearl. She could never get away with saying this stuff to their faces, but between us, I'm digging it. Some of it is funny because of how wrong she is about them, but when she's right it's even better. I know they aren't perfect, they know they aren't perfect, but they sure act like they're better than me. I shouldn't ask her to rag on Steven, he's a good kid, but I'm caught up in the moment. It's great to see what the team looks like to an outsider.

And then she calls me defective. The moment is over. I am all set to get offended until she recognizes my hole without me or Steven ever pointing it out and sums it and my whole existence up in less than thirty seconds. Too small. Too low. Too late. She doesn't mean anything by it when she calls me defective. It's a technical term. As far as she sees, she might as well have just said that I'm purple. It's that simple, that obvious, and it's pissing me off. I'm ready to speed things up to get this fetch-and-carry mission done.

* * *

Once we're back at the barn, I keep my distance. I just need some time to cool down. It's not like she was the first person to tell me I'm defective. It's just that other people used different words. Reckless. Loudmouth. Vulgar. Childish. Pearl and Garnet still care about me when they say that stuff too. I was hoping Peridot would be different though. I thought she was the first Gem that I got to start on a clean slate with. Turns out there were a few marks on it as soon as she saw me.

Pretty soon I guess I'm going to start the same cycle I have going on with Pearl and Garnet. She'll say something that makes me mad even though she's right. Then, because I'm mad, I'll do something that I have to apologize for. After that, things will be fine until the next time her being right upsets me. I don't want to rush to the part where I'm going to hurt Peridot though, so for now I'm just going to ignore her.

* * *

Turns out it's harder to ignore Peridot when she tackles me so that I'm flat on my back and she's sitting on my stomach and staring me in the face. When did she even get off her leash? Why does she have that weirdly intense look on her face? What's up with this warm, tingly feeling in my gem?

She jumps off of me yelling about how it was all an accident. The whole tackle thing happened because some glitch made the drill head start. No big deal. I go back to staying away from her until the sun is setting. That's when Peridot starts trying to talk to me again. She's fumbling over how to start, and I tell her to just spit it out. She yells something frustrated and starts up that tape recorder that Steven gave her.

It's an apology. She can tell I'm upset. She doesn't get why, but she wants to. She wants to understand. Even if I'm defective, she doesn't feel that she's any better. I'm not going to end up doing something horrible before we can work things out. That recording must have taken a lot of effort for her. Maybe Peridot _is_ going to be different. I still call her a nerd when I thank her though. Gotta play it cool. My gem has that tingly feeling again.

* * *

I'm kinda bummed that Peri bows out of Steven's party. I was looking forward to introducing her to cake and seeing how her and Connie nerding around each other is different from her and Pearl nerding around each other now that they've been working together. It's probably a good thing that she's keeping up the work on the drill though.

The next couple of weeks are about a chill as days can be when you're trying to stop the planet from exploding. I'm not much tech help, and there's only so much of the sort of heavy lifting I'm good for to go around. As long as I'm in shouting distance, I've got plenty of downtime.

I mess around with shape shifting. Perfect my Lion. Figure out some kinks in my helicopter. Peridot's shape is easy. Even if I can't figure out how her hair works on her head, I can bend myself to get the shape right as long as no one looks too close. Of course, if you're going to shift into someone for a gag, it's not just the shape. You gotta capture the personality too or the joke falls flat. Getting a handle on Peri's phrasings is pretty fun. Hey, “Peri-phrasing,” that's a good pun. I have to remember that.

* * *

It seems that, while I'm playing helicopter, Peridot is spending three days marathoning the same episode of Camp Pining Hearts over and over. I wouldn't have figured her for a romance fan. I wish I had checked in at the barn more. My TV binging experience may have been useful. I hear she has a pretty extensive shipping rant. I wonder if I should ask to hear it.

* * *

Shifting into Peri gets a blush and a little chuckle out of her. If P-dot doesn't want people calling her cute, she really needs to figure out how to stop blushing, because it's pretty freaking adorable. I'm not sure why she wants me to shape shift into a chicken, but I'm happy to get a laugh out of her. It makes my gem tingle.

* * *

One night, once it's too dark to work, we roast marshmallows over a fire and Steven convinces Peri to sing. I get so caught up watching her that I don't even notice that I ate my stick until she finishes. It's kinda a shame, because I usually enjoy a good stick.

* * *

Going to the Moon Base to get the coordinates for the Cluster is pretty rad. It's a bummer that I can't bounce around in the lower gravity the way Steven does though. Plus, it's annoying that the others already knew that Gem bodies auto-adjust so they can move normally on any planet no matter what the gravity. People knowing things about me that I don't know myself gets old real fast.

P-dot is so pumped to be here, excitedly explaining the murals of the Diamonds and marveling over the technology. I don't get it. It looks like any other Gem ruin I've seen, except normally spires and stuff have sorta settled into the landscape, plants growing over them, fallen bits mixing with the local rock. This place is pristine. It's creeping me out, and I don't mind saying so.

That off-kilter feeling sure doesn't go away once Peri figures out how to get the computer working. She's so excited about what's there. She even compliments my Kindergarten when it comes up. First time anyone has ever done that. After getting the coordinates for the Cluster, she ends up running a simulation of what Homeworld had planned to do to Earth before the Rebellion stopped them.

It's awful. The screen shows the Earth hollowed out to hardly more than the spikes of spires, and Peridot calls it 'perfect.' Garnet and Pearl try to set her straight, but Peridot won't listen. She talks about how useful the Earth colony would have been for Gems, and says that, if it hadn't been for Rose, the Cluster would never have been planted in the first place.

She's says it's Rose who doomed the planet.

Peridot doesn't get to insult Rose. She never even knew her. I don't care how factually correct what's she's saying is. It's wrong.

We go home, to the only planet I've ever called home, the planet Peridot thinks is worthless.

* * *

When Steven shows us the communicator Peridot swiped from the Moon Base, I feel sick. After everything, she's still out to get us. I say that I'm taking back my cool nicknames for her. No more Peri or P-dot, but I'm too mad to think of mean ones to use instead. I wish we could change her mind. I start to suggest shrinking down really small to get inside her head, but Steven shoots that idea down. I know it was dumb anyway. I just...

Before I can finish the thought, the side of the barn explodes from Peridot's robot breaking through it. Me and Pearl try to keep a hold of the communicator, but Peridot grabs it and runs off. We could never catch up on foot. Good thing I didn't give up on the helicopter trick.

The others climb inside my cockpit, and we manage to chase Peri-snot down and knock the robot over. While we dog pile on the 'bot. Peridot squirms out, fights Steven for the communicator, and activates it.

The four of us hide behind the robot as the communicator floats up and forms a giant screen that's soon filled with... Pearl? I mean, her voice is more nasal and her gem is on her chest, but other than that, she and Pearl look as much alike as one of Pearl's regenerations does from another. It's freaky. She even has the same snotty attitude Pearl does on a bad day.

Then, Yellow Diamond takes the call. I don't care how many light years away she is. She is _intimidating_. She sounds so bored in the face of Peridot's near-panic, and when she stands, that other Pearl barely comes up to her knee. Peridot stutters and stammers, but... she doesn't give us up. She claims that her ship was destroyed in an accident, and then, I can't believe what I'm hearing. She tries to convince Yellow Diamond to spare Earth.

Sure, she frames it as “unique resources” and “potential,” but she's also talking about leaving life intact. Too bad Yellow Diamond says, in so many words, that she wants the planet to die. Peri keeps trying until Yellow Diamond makes what I think might turn out to be the worst mistake of her existence. Yellow Diamond not listening to Peri's reasons left her dumbfounded. Yellow Diamond insulting her makes her snap. She _won't_ be following Yellow Diamond's orders, she _will_ be protecting this planet, and Yellow Diamond is a _clod!_ There's no getting around it. This hot as hell. That's when Peri cuts the transmission.

She stands there, holding the communicator and repeating that she can't believe she did that as we run out to her. I'm still caught up in Yellow D getting torn down by the Peri-dactyl. My gem is tingling again.

Then she hands the communicator to Pearl, says it's probably about to blow up, and curls into a ball on the ground. Garnet punches it away so nothing gets hurt when it explodes. And that's it. P-dot is on the team. She's staying, and, I don't know, maybe I can be part of the reason she won't regret it.


End file.
